Summer Nature-Culture Flow

Nature Culture is (perhaps) my final Flow Project component; my working definition of Nature-culture is "humans living in unity with nature: acting in ways that create shared spaces that mimic the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems."

To see a list of all the parts and principles of nature-culture see my Nature-Culture page. Today I will make a plan for how to interweaving nature and earthcare action gently into my daily flow. 

Agenda:

1.  Read "The Serviceberry"

2. Watering by hand

3. Care for native bees

4. Use my harvest

5. Use my harvest

6. Pay it forward

1.  Read "The Serviceberry":

Today I'm reading from "The Serviceberry", by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2024). I got this sweet little book for Christmas.

I'm reading again about the guidelines for a system of land management that views land as a common source of abundance - the Honorable Harvest - which has protocols of restraint, respect, and reciprocity to constrain rampant consumption. Robin lists them as:

• Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so you can take care of them.
• Introduce yourself: Be accountable as the one asking for a life. Ask for permission before taking; abide by the answer.
• Take only what you need, and only that which is given: Harvest what is readily available and abundant.
• Harvest in a way that minimizes harm. Never take the first, or the last one. Never take more than half.
• Use it respectfully: Never waste what you have taken.
• Share
• Give thanks
• Give back: Reciprocate the gifts of the earth by contributing to its well-being through practices like composting, planting trees, or supporting sustainable agriculture. 

2. Watering by hand:

The first and most basic step to take in nature-culture is to keep in daily touch with your local ecosystem - observing and interacting, learning the names of the flora and fauna, and being mindful of the season and climate; becoming a better neighbor.

In the summer I take the time to water the trees and plants in my garden, mostly by hand. It's slow but that helps me take time to really look at the new growth, the weeds that are crowding in, the condition of the soil, and the bugs.

3. Care for native bees:

The second very important step in nature-culture practice is to create a wildlife garden with native plants and intentional wildlife habitat, in order to reverse some of the human-caused habitat destruction that is hurting wildlife.

This spring I planted a new serviceberry tree, four native lupines Tall Native Oregon Grape, western coneflower, rosy plectritis - also called sea blush - which is an up to 2-foot tall plant topped with a cluster of pink flowers. (I think it has died) and tall 

Larkspur (Delphinium trolliifolium) (it likes high moisture!). I will keep planting, a little each month - I want to add some ground cover around my serviceberry tree -  maybe native strawberry or kinnikinnick.

But as for daily flow, the focus this summer is to care for the native bees I've attracted. In the summer that means two things:

1. Leave 8 to 10 inches of stem on shrubs and flowers that have pithy stems (raspberries, thimbleberry, hydrangea) to provide options for native bees looking for places to carve out their nesting sites. Many native bees, such as the tiny, dark, small carpenter bee, utilize old, pithy stems as nesting habitat. During the spring and summer, when these bees are actively seeking nesting sites, gathering pollen and laying eggs for the next generation, they search for dead stems with pithy centers that they can carve out for their nests.
2. Create a bare patch for ground nesting bees - clear away vegetation from a sunny, well-drained area on an open, south-facing spot. The sunlight helps the bees warm up and start their day, and keeps the soil from staying muddy after rains. These patches don’t need to be completely cleared; bees just need to be able to get to the soil easily. Leaving some plants such as a clump of native grass, and a little leaf mulch is good, to prevent erosion. Don’t turn or till the soil in the area at all. Bees need the soil to remain stable; baby bees spend up to eleven months of the year underground!
3. Observe my bee hotels - Bees mate during late spring through early summer and they will move into bee houses during early summer. Bee houses can be left out year-round, especially if you have tubes plugged with fully developed cocoons inside. Keep an eye on them to make sure birds aren't helping themselves.

4. Use my harvest:

The third step in nature-culture practice is to grow a food garden using regenerative agricultural practices - learning from nature and attempting to build healthy soil, collecting and saving seeds, using organic practices, and choosing plants that flourish locally.

I've begun to collect the first fruits of the spring garden - fresh kale, lettuce, rhubarb, and herbs. Part of my daily gardening flow is to harvest first, before I weed or plant. Amy of Ten Acre Farm says, always harvest first, because the goal of all of this gardening is to harvest fresh, healthy food for your table. So, to make sure that happens, prioritize harvesting over other tasks.

I use the cut-and-come-again method of prolonging the harvest for greens, including bok choy: I just trim the larger outer leaves and let new growth come up in the center. For tighter lettuces like butter leaf lettuce, you can cut the whole plant and leave about one inch of the core behind to regrow. I think this emulates how wildlife might nibble on plants in the wild.

I try to follow Honorable Harvest guidelines and use what I grow. I even plan to use some of the brush I pruned out of my hedge to make a new hugelkulture in the front yard.

5. Pay it forward:

One last step I'll talk about is to pay forward the benefits we receive from nature by educating others and advocating for nature. This means sharing nature projects with my grandsons, writing for my earthcare blog, making craftivism, and taking political action.

These are all very much built in to the flow of my days and weeks. I write and work on earthcare projects most every morning, and share time in the garden with my grandsons whenever they are here.

Most recently, I worked with Friends to stencil some earth posters for rallies.

Next week, at Grandma Camp, we will explore bugs!